Cause & Effect

Inside the case file

Every passage in this pack turns on one question — what made that happen? Students read five ordinary pieces of writing about wishes and magic, answer three questions on each, and clear a name off the suspect list with every correct answer. Printable, self-checking and completely no prep, it fits cause-and-effect units, literacy centers, guided reading, early finishers, sub days and homework in Grades 3–5.

Quick Details

Skill: Cause and effect · Grades: 3–5 · Format: 5 unrelated passages × 3 questions, 16-suspect line-up, written response and full answer keys (printable PDF, color and black-and-white) · Theme: The Wishing Tree

The Case

For thirty-one nights, wishes tied to the tree in the square have been coming true — a lost ring back overnight, a cat home by morning. Nobody has ever seen anyone at that tree. Sixteen people live around the square, every one of them was at home on all thirty-one of those nights, and one of them is granting the wishes. Here is the hard part: nobody wrote down what happened at the tree, so there is no account of it to read. What students have instead is a folder of five ordinary pieces of writing about wishes and magic — and the way to read them is to keep asking what made each thing happen.

The 5 Passages

The Lantern on the Hill — legend. One climb, one wish a year, and what happens when a girl climbs twice.

The Wishing Well — realistic fiction. A coin, a hope, and an outcome nobody planned.

The Crow and the Mouse — fable. A bargain with consequences.

The Jar on the Shelf — journal entries. Something kept, something spent, written up night by night.

Dear Wish Office — letter. A complaint, and the chain of events behind it.

How the Reading Mystery Works

Students take on the role of Reading Detectives. The five passages are not connected to each other. Each is followed by three questions about what caused what, plus a PROVE IT prompt asking students to copy the words that say what happened and why. Every correct answer clears one name from the sixteen-suspect list. Clear fifteen, and the name still standing is the one tying wishes to that tree in the dark.

What's Included

• A "You are a detective" case-file page that sets the scene and the mission
• Five short passages across five genres — legend, story, fable, journal and letter
• Three cause-and-effect questions on every passage
• A PROVE IT text-evidence prompt on every passage
• A sixteen-suspect line-up page for eliminating names one clue at a time
• Written-response pages with sample answers
• A themed word search and extension activities for early finishers
• Self-checking answer keys for every page
• Full color and ink-saving black-and-white versions
• Teacher instructions and print-and-go PDF format

Skills Covered

• Identifying causes and their effects in a text
• Following a chain of events where one effect becomes the next cause
• Telling a real cause from something that merely happened first
• Reading across genres — legend, fiction, fable, journal and letter
• Quoting and citing text evidence
• Logical reasoning and deductive elimination as suspects are ruled out

Best Used For

• Cause and effect units
• Literacy centers and guided reading groups
• Morning work, homework and early finishers
• Substitute and relief days
• Small-group reading and intervention
• Comprehension review and test prep for Grades 3–5

More From This Line

Browse every Reading Mystery, or pair it with The Baker's Dozen and The Midnight Gardener.